fandomhighdorms | The salle, before classes

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The salle, before classes

Luckily, Dinah's alarm had still gone off-- Black Canary had set it very conscientiously, in order to be up early to talk to the local government agencies. That was about the only lucky thing about this morning. Because she was supposed to be training with Arthur, first thing.

Dinah had too much to think about. So she was practicing the Way of the Weekend Warrior, and not thinking, whapping the practice dummy to death with her eskrima.

[for a former Roman; but open for your other salle needs.]

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Arthur had his thoughts to ponder as well, but there were few things that helped line things up as some good physical exercise.

Not the kind that involved tackling an idiot servant. He'd already struck that off his list that morning. "Dinah," he greeted as he stalked right on in.

"Hey, Arthur." At about half-volume and half-enthusiasm. Whap whap whap. And an automatic correction of the arm, now that he was here. And she wasn't Black Canary any more. Extra hard whap for that.

She sneaked a look at him sideways. Well. He looked okay. His arm was hurt again. So weird. "You're... recovered, right? From this weekend?"

"No, Dinah, I'm currently screaming mad down in the dungeons," he said, dryly. He'd come to a decision that morning regarding his position on the island, no longer able to afford half-measures: fight or flee.

Arthur didn't really like fleeing.

"Don't think the weekend gets you out of anything." You could almost mistake it for idle.

"Yeah, like that would ever happen," Dinah muttered under her breath. She resisted the urge to ask, how would we tell the difference? because that would just give him an excuse to be more pushy. She straightened more, wondering how it was possible to remember exactly how to do this, but not being able to do it perfectly any more. God. So like Cinderella. Back to the ashes. Grrrr.

WHAP WHAP WHAP WHAP WHAP WHAP WHAP WHAP

Anger wasn't great for focus but it did up the energy.

Arthur picked a light training sword for himself, not so much to practice- he realised that he wouldn't get much of that in with Dinah around - but to have something. "Stop that," he said. His voice may have held a kind note, but he was busy inspecting the sword. "Don't push it."

Dinah slowed down, gritting her teeth. "I knew how to do it!" She hadn't planned on talking about it, and she shot him a horrified look. Then hit the bag again, extra-hard, before resuming a more normal rhythm. "I did," she said under her breath. "Perfectly."

Her muscles weren't trained into it, though. God, how long was that going to take?

"Just because you know of it doesn't mean you can do it yet," Arthur replied, testing the sword's weight while he watched her. "Don't run before you can walk." Not just kind, but maybe a little sympathetic.

He could understand the frustration all too well right now.

That was very weird, even if it did make her feel better. Hunh. It also made Dinah wonder how being Artorius had messed with Arthur. Not that she was going to ask, no way. That couldn't lead to anything good.

She remembered to work on her leg positioning too, from last week, and Jen getting her during their spar, and tried not to pout as she settled back into practice. She sneaked a look at the sword, hopefully. Maybe she'd get a chance to learn more of that, too?

At least Arthur didn't know she'd been wearing fishnets. That was worth something, right?

He swung the sword loosely once, then settled back with it. Arthur watched in silence for a while, channeling his thoughts into the effort of staying sharp on her movements. "Feet, Dinah. They're meant for moving on." And he was back to sounding utterly normal.

Dinah resisted the urge to say "I liked the other guy better" because that would give away way too much, plus, that had been Black Canary liking him better. Grr. And re-adjusted her feet, bouncing a little as she moved.

She finished up the drill and dragged a wrist across her forehead, taking a breath. "I could practice more. I could be here every single day doing this. Instead of every other day."

Maybe that would work?

"You haven't been yet?"

One of Arthur's eyebrows flicked up for a moment. Yes, yes she should. "I can respect wanting to learn how to fight," he said, "But you have to be diligent." He flipped the sword in his hand again, testing for grip.

"Classes. And workouts at the gym. I've been alternating." But really, it wasn't enough. Even if she kept the workouts light some days, she needed the practice. "But I do have the time, so... yeah." Dinah gave the sword another hopeful look. "Sword now?"

And winced at how like a five-year-old asking for a cookie she sounded.

Arthur sighed. He didn't wince at how much like an exasperated parent he sounded. "Sure," he said, as he picked a dummy for himself he knew he wasn't going to find the time to use until after she left.

"Dinah?"

"Yes?" Still sounding hopeful as she put away her eskrima, and joined him. Maaaaaybe if she practiced every day, for another year, maybe she'd catch up to Black Canary... in five years. Better than ten. Dinah re-focused on Arthur, looking expectant, and hoping he wouldn't change his mind.

"How much do you remember?" Arthur asked.

She'd said... things. About the druid boy, for starters.

Ohhhhh. Drat. And various words not approved by any comics code. Maybe he hadn't recognized her? Maybe? Maybe this was a general question?

"About what I did all weekend, everything." She gulped. "About being somebody else, it's kind of fuzzy. I remember remembering? But the real memories are kind of gone."

Which was a shame. That Green Arrow guy had seemed awesome, from what little she could piece together.

"Why do you ask...?"

"I met some really strange people," Arthur muttered, but that sounded ridiculous out loud. Talk of Morgana and Mordred be damned. He shook his head.

"Let's see if you can actually remember a stance this time," he segued, because that was easy.

"Me too," Dinah answered, subdued. "Some of them were really cool, though."

Ack.

"Stance! Stance." She retrieved her practice sword and imitated his stance, two-handed, then switched feet. "Stance."

"Your left leg's all blocked up," Arthur observed within a sideways' glance, "Loosen the wrists. And sweet mercy, Dinah, the arm is nearing poultry again."

It was far easier to fall back into the memory of training knights than to deal with visions of what could be, of what he hoped for.

Dinah jumped up and down and scowled at him, cracking her neck and twisting her wrists, then altering her arm to match his. "I'm working on it!"

Which was a lot easier to think about, working on it, than miss already being what she wanted to be, and having it disappear again.

"Now remember," Arthur said, as he slowly struck a single blow forward, no footwork involved. Then a second, and a third, finishing on the fourth. "In combat with the sword, one well-aimed blow can mean the end of it." He repeated the movement again, his eyes darting her way to observe her progress.

Oddly enough, Liir found himself there.

He hadn't done his forms for a week or so and the pure physicality of his irritation over the weekend required some manner of movement. Without much preamble or even caring how his things were dropped on the floor, Liir started in on the stances, shifting fluidly between them in an impromptu, ad-libs sort of tai chi.

Dinah matched him on the blow, as slowly as he did, and shifted her grip when it had more extension that she'd expected. Second. Third. Fouuuuurth. She nodded, keeping her eyes on his sword, and muttering, "Weight training," under her breath.

It very belatedly occurred to her to ask why he was doing this. Helping. She'd been too psyched last week. And then too busy to ask. Hunh.

Once he was satisfied she was getting it... not completely wrong, Arthur halted his own drills. "Keep going," he said, falling back again. He'd shown her something like this the previous week, but her strength clearly wasn't up to the right levels to deal with anything more intensive.

He'd need to spend a lot of time on this if she was to become any good, and he wasn't in fact planning on staying that long. Still...

Concentrating on getting it right, Dinah did six more reps before curiosity overcame her. "Why are you doing this?" She didn't look at him, and hated herself when she could feel her face heat up at asking. "I mean. Are you just totally bored?"

Which would actually be consistent with what she knew about Arthur. Kind of heartening. Although he'd stop coaching her once he had something to do, but still.

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The salle, before classes

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